Red Bull Istanbul had been fantasizing about a shoot for over a year on an ideal location in Haydarpaşa Port. The idea: colorful shipping containers from all over the world as a giant Freerunning playground. Red Bull Athletes and professional freerunners Jason Paul (Germany) and Dimitris (DK) Kyrsanidis (Greece) were part of making that fantasy a reality.

DK

I arrived in Istanbul a few days after everyone else to shoot what's going on behind the scenes. We had a brutal shooting schedule and I got thrown straight into it. Meeting in the lobby at 5AM to be on location and ready to roll as the sun came up.

Jason Paul

At 11AM the light was bad and the temperature too hot to shoot. Our opportunity to take a few hours break and catch the tail end of breakfast back at the hotel. 3PM we left back to location, prepared the next shots for when the light turned pretty, then stuck around till sunset and packed up around 9pm.

Jason Paul

Jason Paul

Playback.

For over a week this went on and Jason only had one outfit to keep the continuity of the video. You can image how gross and sweaty their clothes were because of the heat and never having enough time to wash them. When he jumped in the water at the last seen I remember staying way past my bedtime, washing out the harbor water and using the hair dryer to wash out the sea water.

Jason Paul and Dimitris Kyrsanidis

Jason Paul

Dimitris (DK) Kyrsanidis

Jason Paul

Dimitris DK Kyrsanidis

It was in the middle of ramadan and most of the crew couldn't eat or drink. Jason kept forgetting and brought over water and Red Bulls for them, they politely declined.

Jason Paul and Dimitris Kyrsanidis

Dimitris Kyrsanidis

The location and lighting was so nice at times, the photos look like set up shots, but really this is how it happened while they were shooting and testing. There was major machinery from moving cranes and fork lifts so a lot of communication and testing was involved. Luckily this gave me opportunities to get my shots.

Jason Paul

I was typically on my long lens (a Canon 70mm - 200mm) so I could stand back with the camera and be outside of the film-cameras frames. I even got to ride on the moving cranes and climb the containers.

Dimitris Kyrsanidis

Jaanus Ree and Jason Paul

Jaanus Ree and Jason Paul

Watching back footage with the crew.

I am very proud of the athletes, the crew and team at Red Bull for putting this together and making it happen. It was truly a unique location and a project that took everyone involved to build, move, and capture.

Red Bull Istanbul's Dreamland video. I was not involved with the making of this video, I just took the photos of behind the scenes that you see above.